Gator HPX demand and use as snow plow

[yankeerider]

My wife has decided she wants a John Deere Gator to replace her gas EZ-Go golf cart. Main reason is she wants a power dump bed. Her needs could easily be met by one of the 2wd versions, but-

We have 5 acres along a ridge, and the farm area of our property is 30-40 feet lower than where the house is. Access is by a steep road, that I would like to plow in the winter (especially because she wants to keep chickens down there). For this reason, I'm thinking an HPX with V-plow and poly cab and Curtis heater.

Anyone with a similar combination that can offer comments about the effectiveness/likes/dislikes of this setup, since the cab/plow/heater adds significantly to the price?

Also, my local dealer has quoted me essentially list price for this combination, after complaining about slow business due to the economy! I'm considering what number I should offer, and am wondering what the demand truly is for these these days.

Thanks

 

[shot_gun]

Sold alot of the all curtis set ups. I have looked at the poly cab and I think I like it. The Curtis heater is the way to go. If you can swing it the new Brinly-hardy verion of the snow plow is awesome. You might want to think of the XUV because of it's easier steering then the HPX. When you add a cab/plow setup that front end gets pretty heavy. Make sure you get the HD front struts. A must for all the front end weight. Powerdump, bedliner, rear drawbar.

 

[cef2lion]

From my experience.

I added the Curtis heater to my XUV 850D when I bought it. Looked at the Deere heater but it was more. I thought the Curtis heater might save the glovebox but turns out you lose the glovebox with the Curtis as well. I did the install my self. A bit of work involved in doing the plumbing.

I'm not really getting a lot of good heat out of the unit. I bleed it a number of times. It throws warm air at best. Most of my trips are short. The diesel engine is just getting warmed up and I'm shutting it down. Maybe the gas engine would give better heat. Plus if your plowing you might work the engine more and get better heat. Spring came and I stopped trying to make things better.

With the cab and doors I find I get heat off the radiator equal to what the heater is providing. Dealer offered to look at it if I brought it in. Warranty had since run out. I sent two emails to Curtis and none were returned. Given my experience I would pass on the heater next time for my application. Unless I find a way to make mine work better. Going to place something over the grille this winter to block air so I can remove it for summer months. Didn't want to mess with changing the thermostat.

I have the Deere deluxe cab. Pricy. Do it again I think I would go the Curtis cab route. I have the soft doors on the deluxe cab. I really have issues with dirt on the doors and back window. The back window is the worst. They have not been in the sun a whole lot as it sits inside when not being used. I have washed the window and doors on the inside and out very careful. Even clean they seem a bit hard to see out. For what I paid for the door kit I almost wish I paid a bit more and went the hard door kit. I thought the hard door kit might add more weight they I wanted. Not sure if the Curtis soft doors and zip down windows on the doors. Nice feature if it does. A few times I have been out with the doors on and it gets warm out. Even with the front window tilted out it gets warm in there.

Craig

 

[a37b]

I installed the curtis heater in my gas xuv and it didnt work well until I called curtis and they sent me a small booster pump, it works great now. A coat is not needed in the coldest weather.

 

[yankeerider]

Thank you all for the replies.

Craig, when you say you have the deluxe cab with the soft doors, are you talking Curtis? I was under the impression the Deere deluxe cab had only glass doors or the alternative was the Poly cab that goes on the OPS frame.

Can any of you with a Curtis heater post a pic of it from the passenger side? I downloaded the Curtis heater installation manual, but there's no pictures of it installed from the cab side- only from the underhood side. The defroster opening led me to believe it would intrude less than the Deere unit, and I'm wondering if it protrudes into the cabin or just fills the glove box area. My dealer also suggested the Cozy Cab heater, but that sits under the passenger side seat and looks too intrusive for warm weather use.

Any comments on plowing effectiveness relative to other machines you've moved snow with?

Thanks again,

 

[shot_gun]

cef2lion: if you followed the Curtis directions than that is probably the reason for the low heat. I looked back over the past 3.5 years and I've done 37 heaters. All work very well once you figure out how to make them flow. The key is the center console. You need to remove the drain off the bottom( a little plastic protrusion). It pushes the hose flat under the console. I use a dremel tool to remove plastic in the front corner also to allow the hose to get down with out being squashed. Yes you will see a little bit of the hose through the plastic. It's not exactly pretty but it doesn't squash the hose. Then I trim the back lip off the console so it doesn't squash the back of the hose were it goes up into the shifter area.

Act 2: I remove the passenger seat and the knobs, passanger handle, and the center shift quadrant. Then I trim the bottom of the flat piece of metal attached to the FNR lever at a 45 degree angle and run the hose closest to the driver side. I then punch a hole where the center frame meets the side of the seat frame. you have to be careful not to go too far in or you drill through the metall pipe carring the coolant to the rear . I use a ziptie to hold the hose and wire harness together from the hole you just drilled to the hole already in the frame. This keeps the hose away from the shifter. (I built my first four the way the directions said and all leaked in 40-50 hours from the shifter rubbing on the hose.) I then run the hose straight out the back of the firewall around to the engine. Put the shutoff valve in. I don't use the bleeder/filler neck at the top because we have a tool for "sucking down" the cooling system. It eliminates the need for that and overheating due to air pockets. If your fan turns on with out the overheat light coming on your in good shape.

Oh and I almost forgot get the floormats too.

 

[cef2lion]

The Curtis heater is not exposed into the cab at all. It goes under the dash filling the place of the glovebox. There is a plate that covers the glovebox opening. Half of the under the hold storage on pass side is lost as well but I needed to remove my window lower frame to get under the hood anyway. I do miss the glovebox.

Thanks for the tip on the heater hose. I was worried about hose getting pinched under the console and wanted to pull the console to check on it. Bet I have an issue there. Wasn't keen with there instructions on how to route it under the console.

One thing I have noticed in the summer. You really get a lot of heat coming back off the radiator. Even with doors off. If I have the front window tilted closed it gets very hot inside around your legs. You need to keep the front window open to make it comfortable. Nice in the winter. It would be nice if the firewall to cab was better sealed to keep radiator air out. If that was the case in the winter you would want a good working heater.

On the deluxe cab. I got the cab with my 05 HPX. When I traded for the 07 XUV I just transfered it over to the XUV. At the time all I had was the deluxe cab and front glass windshield. For the XUV I added the soft door kit. The hard door kit was an option as well. I was wondering if the deluxe cab wasn't selling well because of cost and Deere might be phasing it out over the poly options they have now. The deluxe cab was actually made and shipped from Europe.

Craig

 

[prosumequipment]

Yankeerider, with the list of options you are looking at I can't help but chime it.

If you would like more alternatives to Deere factory offerings, I would encourage you to check out the cab set-up we proudly make here at Prosum Equipment (prosumequipment.com). It has several features not found on the Deere cab and may save you a nice chunk of change as well. We don't have a heater available yet, we're working on one for this fall.

We also are a distributor of Eagle Plows by American Manufacturing, (to disclose our interests). It will be well worth your time to do a little research on aftermarket snow plow set-ups whether it is one we carry or one of several other manufacturers. The Deere plow is a Cadillac, but it also comes with the weight, price, complexity, and lower ground clearance of one.

We would be happy to work with your Deere dealer on our product line to get you the equipment you need.

 

[a37b]

I can verify that Scotts products at prosum are very good. I bought an eagle plow last december from him for my xuv and am very happy with it.

 

[jcmseven]

I have an Eagle Plow for my XUV. I also had one for my now-sold HPX. They work great. I might end up getting a JD plow with the hydraulic down pressure for this winter but the Eagle Plow is pretty nice and would do OK for light-moderate duty plowing.

John M

 

[yankeerider]

I have an Eagle Plow for my XUV. I also had one for my now-sold HPX.

John M

John, can you offer any comments on steering effort between the XUV and the HPX? I recall you added power steering to the HPX, and am wondering if the HPX w/cab and plow might be too much for wife vs. the XUV effort. I take it after selling your HPX you missed it and went back to an XUV?

 

[cef2lion]

I had an '05 HPX. Currently I have an '07 XUV 850d. In '06 Deere made improvements to the steering effort. It is my understanding that was in the steering column bushing and increasing front tire pressure. The steering column bushing when from plastic or nylon to maybe bearing. Not sure if that could be fitted to the older HPXs. I don't know for sure but I think the XUV might have gotten the '06 HPX type steering. So the '06 HPX and the XUV would have similar steering efforts.

Craig

 

[shot_gun]

cef2lion: You are correct, the Plactic bushing was changed to a the bearings that they use for the front wheels on the garden tractors. You can change the bushing to bearings but you will have to cut out the "pipe" that holds the bushings and put a larger on in so the bearings will fit in. The front end is a little tougher. The gear ratio was changed in 06' and this requires an entire front axle assembly change. When they changed the ratio this allowed them to go to 14 psi on the front tire instead of 7 psi. Smaller foot print on the ground = less steering effort also.

Now if we apply that to the new HPX/XUV conversation. The XUV has a more narrow tire than the HPX. Meaning that the XUV has a smaller footprint than the HPX= less sterring effort. The way to tell is to drive both side by side and you'll see what I mean. Hope that clears it up alittle.

 

[yankeerider]

Thanks again to all, especially cef2lion and shot_gun. I found a local dealer who has an HPX and XUV and a rough terrain test track, so it looks like my wife and I will be doing some test comparison driving this weekend!

 

[cef2lion]

Welcome and enjoy whatever you choose. Couple points I noticed going from HPX to XUV. With independent rear suspension the XUV was smoother riding. I have hauled some heavy loads of dirt with XUV and rear end has held up so far but early to tell on that. The solid rear axle might be a selling point there. The XUV has a bit higher ground clearance. The XUV is faster. My dealer had the power dump package already installed when I bought the XUV. That option is less on the XUV then the HPX maybe to increase sells and also they went to a single lift cylinder. Very helpful in dumping heavy loads. My XUV has a front sway bar that I don't recall on the '05 HPX. If you will be adding a plow and weight of a cab they offer a HD front suspension kit. Not sure but something has me thinking the HPX might use a coil spring/shock approach and the XUV went to struts in front end.

Craig

 

[shot_gun]

Jerry, Your welcome. Have fun! Both are solid machines.

Craig, The HPX's didn't have a need for the front sway bar because of the solid rear axle. They have been using struts all along for both machines. They both use the same HD strut kit VGB10544. I would only add the kit if you get a plow. Otherwise if there isn't enough weight it tends to push the front end when your doing high speed manuvers.

Gentlemen Enjoy!

 

[jcmseven]

If I recall, the HPX after I purchased mine went to the reduced steering effort (I believe 30% reduction). This has carried over in the XUV. I cannot speak to the Power Steering on the HPX--as it was not available then to my knowledge--but it does help the XUV. With my plow mounted on the front I can tell much more difference than when just driving around. I have aftermarket tires on my XUV and one can tell some difference in steering effort with them v. the stock tires without PS. I would say for your wife, Yankeerider, steering an HPX Gator with a front plow without PS would be challenging, especially at lower speeds. This would be an instance where the additional cost of the Electrosteer at the outset might really offer a benefit.

John M

 

[yankeerider]

Thanks, John. We bought an HPX this afternoon.

She drove both an HPX and a TX. As it turned out, the steering effort was no issue at all (no plow, of course), and the accelerator pedal in the TX was so far to the right that she complained at first, but then decided she could live with it. She didn't notice any significant difference between the two except the pedal location. We didn't even test an XUV because the cargo bed height on that machine was too high for her to feel comfortable loading.

We'll find out if she has issues with the steering with the plow weight in a few weeks. I kind've doubt she's likely to be plowing with it anyway.